Off I go
by DucksinSpace
Summary: It's a Cater/Lucy fic. Carcy! Something a little different. Takes place during and after the stabbing. Read it/Review it. Thanks :D
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with ER or NBC.

I really have no direction for this story; I'm just avoiding school work.

As Lucy was lying on the cold hospital floor looking up at Paul holding the 6 inch bloody butcher knife, her mind was racing. From how the reason to know a butcher knife was called a butcher knife, because that is exactly what Paul did to her, he butchered her. To what her chances were on surviving this brutal attack, would someone find her in time? Why was Paul standing there in he door way? Was he planning on attacking the next person that walked through the door, how would she warn them? Most of all, she thought of her mother, how would they tell her mother that she died, would she be able to take the news that her only daughter was murdered while at work, and bleed to death in non other than in the hospital. A place that has the capabilities of saving people from death.

As these thoughts where going through her head, her eyes began to close as her breathing became more shallow, then it happened, the door opened and she saw a figure of a man there. It was Malik, she wanted to scream for him to be careful, Paul was right behind him. But as soon as Malik saw Lucy he turned around to scream for help and saw Paul standing there with the knife, shaking and crying. Before Paul could move forward for his 2nd attack of the night, Mailk grabbed him and held him to the ground, screaming for help as loud as he could, but the music was too loud, he could not reach the call button, or a phone, he would just have to wait for the song to change and in those brief seconds he would scream once again.

While holding Paul down, he looked at Lucy and spoke, "Lucy, you hold on, you have to hold on, we are going to get help, just hold on a few minutes longer." Just as those words came out this mouth, Dave opened the door, ready to give Lucy hell for not suturing the leg lack yet. When he saw the sight that was in front of him, he was paralyzed with fear and shock. For a brief second, Dave could not move, but then he better half of him took over, and he changed into emergency mode. As Mailk held down Paul, Dave ran over to Lucy, who was once again in and out of it.

"Damnit!" Dave screamed. "Lucy, you have to open your eyes, Lucy just keep them open, please" Lucy slowly opened her eyes, and looked at Dave. They were filled with fear and tears, she slowly reached up her hand for Dave to grab it, to which he did. "I'm going to get you though this Lucy, you are going to make it, I promise you". As he said this Dave reached up with his other hand and pressed the call button, to which Luka and Carol came running to answer.

Lucy was put on a gurney and rushed to a trauma, while Paul was sedated and the police as well as physc were called.

In the trauma room, nobody could believe who they were working on to save. It became to much for Dave. He stumbled back from the table that Lucy was laying on, Chen looked up at him and spoke, "Dave, leave, I understand that this is a lot to take in, but if you can't work on her, we have you in here, it is too crowed already" Dave looked back at her and to Lucy and with tears filled in his eyes, he nodded and walked out. He sat down the first place he could see, and put his head between his legs, he was going to be sick. This didn't help, he needed fresh air, but the last place he wanted to go was the ambulance bay, he didn't think that he could work on patients right now. So he headed up to the roof.

Once to the top, Dave raced out of the elevator to be greeted by the cold February air. He took a deep breath in, but it was still too much, and he threw up. After he was done vomiting, he noticed 2 sets of feet at his eye level. He looked up to see both Carter and Abby smirking at him.

Cater spoke first, "Dave never knew you had such a weak stomach, you must have one hell of a trauma" Abby laughed. Dave looked at Carter seriously and could barely get the words out, "Carter, you have…you have no idea, its…Carter…she is hurt…It's so bad…I couldn't…where were you…why weren't you watching her, you're her teacher"

Carter looked at Dave with a very confused look on his face and spoke very sternly. "Dave what in hell are you talking about, are you talking about Lucy? What do you mean she is hurt" Carter than looked at Dave's scrubs, they were covered blood and he looked back at Dave's face. "Dave, answer me, is that Lucy's blood?!?!" All that Dave could do was nod and begin to cry and vomit all over again.

Carter ran as fast as he could down the stairs, he knew the elevator would not get him to where he wanted to be in time. He ran down to the ER and to the trauma room, to which Lucy was being rolled out of, on her way to surgery. He ran up to beside her bed, her eyes where closed and he noticed that she was trached .She had stab wounds up and down her little body. He grabbed her hand, and looked at Mark who was pushing the gurney. He went to open his mouth but no words would come out. He was in utter shock at the fact that Lucy was there lying on gurney fighting for her life right in front of him.

They reached the elevator to which Peter was already there waiting with the door held open. The pushed Lucy in, and rode up the surgery floor in silence. Once there, Carter went to follow Peter in to the prep room, to which Peter stopped him. "Carter, man, I can't let you come in, you have to wait, you can sit in the observation room, but that's it." Carter went to argue, but Peter went to scrub up.

Mark grabbed Carter shoulder and slightly squeezed. "Carter, come on, there is nothing we can do but wait, and we need to talk." Carter looked at him and nodded sadly and followed him down the hall and into the elevator once again, only this time, the elevator felt empty, Lucy wasn't there.

TBC???


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with ER or NBC.

Once again, I really am just going with the flow, classes this semester are getting tough. I just need some kind of release.

While waiting for the elevator to reach the ground floor Carter and Mark stood in silence, nothing really could be said. Mark looked at Carter who had his head down, hands at his temple, obviously trying to take in what he just saw, but it just wasn't making sense, how did Lucy go from annoying the shit out of him that day, to fighting for her life up in the ER. The exited the elevator and headed to the lounge.

Finally Carter spoke, "Mark, how in the hell did this happen? Who hurt her? What…How? I can't…."

Mark cut him off. "Carter, it was one of her patients, Paul Sobriki. Apparently he got a hold of the knife that they were going to use to cut the cake for the party. Carter, she was lying there a while, Malik found her."

Carter took a deep breath in. While she was lying on the floor bleeding to death, he was sitting on the roof, comforting Abby. He still couldn't get his mind around it. Mark Continued.

"Carter, you need to be prepared for questioning by the police, they are going to want to know a medical history on this guy, and they are going to want answers on why he would possibly want to this."

This time Carter cut off Mark. "Lucy was waiting on psyhc . She thought that he was suffering from schizophrenia. This must have been his first break." Mark closed his eyes and nodded. Then a voice from behind bellowed and startled them both.

"My question to you Dr. Carter, is why in the hell Miss. Knight was left alone, why were you not doing your job and supervising her!?"

Cater turned around to see none other than Robert Ramano. Carter looked at Mark with pleading eyes, but Mark looked the other way.

Carter continued to sit there, causing Robert to get even angrier. Robert walked over the table Mark and Carter were sitting at and he sat down right next to Carter. "WELL!!!?! ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME OR JUST CONTINE TO SIT THERE ACTING LIKE I ASKED YOU YOUR FAVOIRTE COLOR?" Carter stood up and stared down at Robert. "Dr. Ramano, how dare you come down here and attack me like this right now, I have so much going through my mind right now, the last thing I want to deal with and you and your hospital bullshit" Carters fists were slowly starting to clench as he said this.

Robert slowly rose. He spoke slowly and sternly. "Dr. Carter, I have no words for you. I am not attacking you. Miss. Knight was attacked, she was brutally attacked. This could have been avoided. I am putting this on you, I am not here to spare your feelings. I am giving you a much needed reality check. You should have been supervising your student..." At this point Robert started choking up. "..and because of your mistake, Miss. Knight might pay with her life. It should have been you, it should have been you."

With that comment said, Robert turned and walked out of the lounge.

Carter sank back in to his chair, and looked at Mark, who was looking at his hands on the table. Mark stood up and started to walk out. But turned around and spoke. "I told you that if you were going to be supervising, to actually supervise. I warned you, just today in fact. Carter, this isn't going to be easy, and Robert is the least of your worries, you need to be ready to deal with what is going to lie ahead. With that Mark left, Carter alone with his thoughts.

TBC…will update later tonight…going to eat dinner


	3. Off I Go part 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with ER or NBC.

Up in the OR Peter and Elizabeth were working to save Lucy. Not since Gant had Peter been so shaken up, that his performance could possibly be affected. But he had to put his emotions aside and do his job, he didn't need any clouded judgment. The surgery continued with an eerie silence. The only sounds that could be heard, was Peter or Elizabeth asking for instruments and the beeps of Lucy's heart monitor that they were so desperate to keep beeping.  
Back down in the ER, much to the relief of everybody it became a busy night. The busier it was, the fast time would go, and the sooner they would know what was going to happen to Lucy. Jerry had to take down all the decorations, it was no longer a celebration, nor would it be in the future, at the ER at least.  
Carter didn't know what to do. He couldn't go home. He couldn't sit in the waiting room. He couldn't sit in the lounge. He needed to be doing something, he like everybody else needed to keep his mind off and as far away from Lucy as possible. He determined what he needed was a long walk. He needed to get out of the hospital, away from it all, out of sight out of mind so to say. He went to his locker and got his coat and headed out in to the cold.  
As Carter walked he wasn't sure what he should be thinking. Should he be thinking of all the good times that he and Lucy had shared? If that was the case, none were coming to mind. He couldn't even really replay the day in his head. The last full memory he had was Dave, standing there in front of him, crying and covered in Lucy's blood. A sight that would never be shaken from his memory, he just had to keep walking and walking. That is when he came across the Tiki Lounge…maybe that is what he needed to forget…

A few hours later back at County, Peter and Elizabeth were standing at Lucy's bed. She had made it through surgery with little complications. Thank goodness. With time, she would wake up. Physically she was going to make it, but mentally, that was whole another ball park.

Elizabeth: "Have you talked to Dr. Carter? How is he taking all of this?

Peter: *sighing* "To tell you the truth I really don't know, I spoke to him right before she went under, and he was a mess. He didn't know what happened or how it happened. I think it's going to be a long road for him too…

Elizabeth: Well I guess we should go inform everybody that she made it through surgery. You can take the ER and I'll talk to Romano, I think this is affecting him pretty bad too.

Peter nodded and walked out. Elizabeth then took Lucy's hand in hers, squeezed it. She thought to herself how thankful she was that Lucy made it thought the surgery, she wasn't sure how everybody would have reacted if one of their own had died on duty. She only hopped that Carter was going to be okay, she felt there was a lot more to the story that she knew, how was this young girl left alone as long as she was, lying there bleeding on the floor. She quickly shock the horrific thoughts out of her head, put down Lucy's hand and walked down the hall to Romano's office…

Meanwhile back down in the ER Peter was looking for Dr. Greene and Dr. Weaver to inform them of Lucy's condition, he felt that they should be the ones to inform the staff, he didn't want to have to repeat the story over and over again, and he was already emotional spent for the day.

He asked Kerry and Mark to meet him in the lounge to discuss it. They sat at table in the lounge.

As Peter was explaining her condition, Dr. John Carter stumbled in the lounge and over to his locker. He put his combination in, after a few tries his locker opened and he got out his lab coat and tried to put it on but failed.

Peter, Kerry and Mark stared in disbelief. Finally Peter spoke.

Peter: Carter, have you been drinking?

Carter looked up at them, stumbled and giggled a little.

Carter: Look man I only had one, not that big of a deal.

Mark: Carter you have obviously had more than one, you are drunk and I can't let you work. Luckily the ER isn't very busy, you need to lie down and sober up.

Carter: NO! I HAVE TO WORK! I have too!

Mark: Carter. No. No you can't. You are drunk, you can't even walk, I will not let you see patients.

Carter: Well then I am going home. If you won't let me work, I will go home.

He went back to his locker and tried to open it. But failed. He then placed his head on his locker and took a deep breath.

Peter got up and walked over to him. Placed his and on Carter's back and spoke. "She made it through surgery. Carter we are pretty sure she is going to pull through this. The best thing you can do right now is sober up. When you have done so, you can go visit her. She might be awake by then."

Carter nodded and headed to an Exam room to sleep whatever he drank off. He hoped he would pass out fast and also hoped it would be a deep sleep. As he walked down the hallway of the ER, all eyes seemed to be on him. What else did he really expect from his place? As he went into an empty exam room, he heard someone behind him. It was Abby.

Abby: Dr. Carter are you okay?

Carter looked up at Abby.

Carter : I'm drunk.

Abby: That doesn't really answer my question. Are you okay?

Carter: No, no I'm not. I'm better off than Lucy though, and that is all that matters.

Carter lay down on the bed. Abby went over the cabinet and got out and IV.

Abby: Carter, you can't blame yourself, you didn't know what was going on.

Abby stuck the IV in his arm.

Carter looked at her with a look of thanks.

Carter: I wasn't doing my job. I was talking to you, I shouldn't have been up there with you, I shouldn't have been ignoring my student, I shouldn't have been doing Dave's job. Romano is right, because I wasn't doing my job, Lucy might have to pay with her life.

Abby: Carter you didn't think the ramifications could be this extreme; you have to stop blaming yourself.

Carter: But there are rules for a reason, and now I know this more than ever.

As all of these thoughts came back to Carter he began to become upset again. He sat up and pulled a flask out of his pocket. Abby saw this and grabbed it from Carter.

Abby: Carter you are just going to make this worse if you drink more. You have to sober up and deal with reality. A drunken reality is a lot worse, you think everything is going to end, your emotions are greater. Just go to sleep.

Carter tried to grab it out of Abby's hand but Abby wouldn't let him. She pushed slightly on his upper body so he would fall back on to the bed. As she did this Carter grabbed Abby's back and pulled her toward him and brought her in for a kiss.

Abby couldn't believe what was going on, though she felt that she should humor him. He needed some type of attention/affection. The kiss became more intense, so Abby pulled away. When she did, Carter just nodded and fell asleep.

A few hours later Romano made is way downstairs to the ER. Lucy had woken up and he was much relived. Although he felt that John Carter didn't need to know this little bit of information. So help him, he would not let another incident like this happen again. He was going to teach Carter a lesson, it would be tough, but it needed to be learned and Carter had to be the example for the rest of the ER.

Of course he had already heard about Carter's drunken incident. He knew that he should be angrier, but also understood the stress that Carter was under. But he defiantly would not let Carter, Kerry or the ER know his true feelings. He would have to put on one of his great acts.

Romano made his way to the exam room Carter was sleeping in. Walked in, turned the lights on and screamed "Dr. Carter" at the top of his lungs.

Carter set up with a jolt. His head pounded. He looked at Romano. Eyes squinted.

Carter: "Lucy...is she…"

Romano: "Suddenly you care about Miss. Knight? You care if she is alive? YOU CARE IF SHE HAS AWOKEN FROM HER COMA OR NOT?? YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT YOUR DURNK ASS CARES!"

Carter looked away.

Romano: Get up! Get out of bed right now!

Carter did as he was told.

Romano: Come with me, you need to see the extent of your irresponsibility.

Once again Carter did what he was told. The elevator ride was once again quiet and awkward. Once they got to the ICU, Romano took Carter to Lucy's room.

Carter sat down next to Lucy. He looked at her. She looked so helpless; Carter really didn't know how to react. So he took Lucy's hand in his, but his head down on the bed and wept while repeating over and over again.  
"I'm so sorry Lucy, I'm so sorry".

Romano knew that his job was done, at least at this point. Patted Carter on the back, and spoke.

"Take all the time you need"

And with that he walked out leaving Carter and Lucy alone.

TBC

Sorry it took so long with the update guys…school has been killing me hardcore. I'll try to update soon though!


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